Tag: life

It is December 2017, and honestly, not everything went as planned this year. I had “a brief stint of adulting” and I was restless and ready to move on, and make my life happen. Now it is months and months later, and I feel like I took one step ahead and two steps back. Well, kind of anyway.

This is the situation. Next week I will be graduation from my Travel and Tourism Management Course from UiT – The Arctic University of Norway. The one year course will be over and I think I feel ready to leave university behind for a while. The final exam and the graduation ceremony will be in Arkhangelsk, Russia and I absolutely can not wait. I am also currently balancing two part-time jobs, one doing Social Media, one working in a hotel. My English love is in Norway with me, and we are loving experiencing the Arctic seasons together. These are all great things. However, after eight months of traveling, working odd hours, living at home, living in the UK, working 120% each week and only working a couple of hours… I miss adulting. I miss routine. I miss having an office to go to every day, following my to-do lists, going to the gym and knowing what the week looks like.

When I read my post from the beginning of the year I realise how much I have changed, and how my perspective has changed with new experiences. During this year I had a job interview with one of the most reputable tourism businesses in Norway, but didn’t get the job. I learned that although I feel like an adult, I am insecure. During this year I had my first real job in the service industry. I learned that servers are heroes, and receptionist have to accept a lot of negativity for things they don’t even know anything about, with a smile. During 2017 I wrote a thesis about film-tourism, but learned more about Destination Development than anything else. I travelled around Europe for almost a month, and I learned that strange things are only scary until you experience them. This year I got to learn to not take what I have for granted, and to sweat the small stuff less. I have also discovered that I still don’t know what the dream is.

That is, I know now that I do want a life with routine, as well as adventures. I am my best self when I can plan everyday life ahead, stay busy and surround myself with good people. I am my best self when I can relax in the little moments at home, as well as on a beach in some foreign country. I am my best self when I can feel physically strong, mentally capable and emotionally free. These are the things I need to prioritise going ahead in 2018. My ultimate goal is just to be happy, and live a life that is full of memories with people I love. I think it’s a sign that I am growing up that I am building less castles in the air, and building more life.

This is not all that I have learned this year, but it is what I felt strongly about today in particular. I don’t know if I will manage to land a full-time job in 2018, or if my English love will be able to stay in the country, or even if I will be able to leave my home town. But I hope so. Despite having gone one step forward and two steps back I still believe in walking the path and ending up where I was supposed to. Eventually.

Hopefully another year down the line I will be able to update you in another post, having learned even more about myself and the grand world around me,

I have to admit that it’s odd being back. And not because I moved back into my flat and immediately got reunited with my dust mite/mold allergy (why carpets Britain? WHYYY). It’s odd being back because it’s like a different life. Different food, different people, different routines, different activities. I’ve left one home for another, once again having to readjust my thinking to a different way of life – its liberating and stressful and exhilarating all rolled into one.

The first couple of days back I did errands and slept and being back at university didn’t really register. Then friday happened and 3 hours into the Newcastle University International Welcome Day I looked around me at all the other Society stands, and it hit me. My third year has arrived. My third and LAST year. How weird is that? I never planned for anything after university because university was always the goal. And now university is almost over. I’m slightly terrified by the prospect of writing a dissertation and finishing uni, but being back in the student bubble is amazing. What do I do when uni ends? Then what? *entering black mental hole of future doom*

Luckily I don’t really have time to think about that now that I’m back being busy again – thank God. Yesterday and today was spent in Photoshop making event headers for Facebook events, on stand at the Fresher’s Fair and in meetings. Being the PR Officer of the Erasmus Society is a varied, but fun role! Tomorrow is when the real bizz starts however, with a 9.30am induction followed by a meeting with the (so far unknown) person who will be my dissertation supervisor. Wish me luck! Xxx

Ps: BlubImNotAFish tagged me in the Harry Potter Tag so that video is now up on my Youtube channel!

Life is one big, weird adventure. Plans fall through, dreams are postponed, exchange rates change, people have babies, get pets, lose and gain friends. Life is roller coaster with all that that implies, the head rush, the slight nausea, the terrified, but elated screaming, its all there. The only real constant in life is that life is unpredictable. And I got to experience that a little yesterday. As I mentioned a couple of posts back the exchange rate between the British Pound and the Norwegian Krone forced me to eliminate or postpone most of my 2016 travel plans, in favor of paying my tuition fees, rent and having something extra to live for. I gave up on Vietnam, I almost gave up on Barcelona and to be honest I felt down. The money I had worked hard for and saved up specifically for travel was now all of a sudden out of my hands and bitterly put to use just to cover a failing Krone rate that was out of my control. But then life is, and will always be, unpredictable, sometimes for worse, sometimes for better.

From our Epic Italy Adventure in 2014

Last night I was skyping my Brazilian friend Laura, an amazing girl I met during my first year at university and also one of my dearest friends. She had discovered she had a couple off weeks of from university in Rio De Janeiro and by pure coincidence her vacation were on the same weeks as my Easter Break. We laughed about it and decided to check the tickets on Skyscanner for fun, because we had long discussed me visiting her, but it never seemed to happen. And the tickets were relatively CHEAP! . 550 pounds return with British Airways from London is way less than you would expect to pay for a direct return flight. After a quick phone call to my parents and grandparents where I got them to swear to not give me any actual gifts for Christmas or my birthday, but instead some money to help pay for the flight later – which they were all for – the flight information was filled in, the tickets were paid for with some of my savings and BOOM. TWO WEEKS IN RIO DE JANEIRO HERE I COME! 😀

As you read this I am on my way to Stockholm, but I am still shellshocked. Absolutely shellshocked and in awe of how lucky I am. After losing any and all travel plans for 2016, the dates, the tickets and the trip falls into my lap and I get a Birthday/ Graduation trip after all. I’m having my cake and eating it too, despite being a students and poorer than ever. With the help of my kind family who are willing to contribute a little to the flight tickets, and Lauras lovely family hosting me for the full two weeks, and getting to see one of my dearest friends in person for the first time in almost two years… I’m set to have the trip of a lifetime. I know it’s a cliché to be “blessed” at this point, but there is no other word for it. I’m blessed to have such a supporting family, such generous friends and such loving people in my life who help make my dreams come true and cheer me on in all my endeavors. Let the countdown begin! Xxx

It’s a lovely monday afternoon after a busy weekend of volunteering at a local festival from morning til evening and a cruise ship being in port today. Volunteering at festivals is particularly fun when it’s local and new like this one. At a parking lot in my tiny home town of 10 000 People with an amazing sunset as a backdrop Norwegian bands as well as some international ones played their hearts out.

I was part of the main bar crew both nights as well as rigging during the day on Saturday. In the evenings I opened probably 1000 cans of beer each night and poured just as many (there was no tap you see, only cans).Exhausting, but so much fun to be a part of 🙂 This year was the first of hopefully many future #Fæsterålen festivals!

I never really thought I would be in a long distance relationship, because I never thought I was cut out for it. Not seeing your favourite person for a significant amount of time didn’t seem like something I could do. No hugs when I’m feeling down, no hand to hold when I need support, no smiling Kjære to cheer up my day. Not being able to do the same for Kjære is also a challenge. When any loved on is down you want to do what you can to help them and comfort them, but it’s somehow worse when it’s your partner in crime. They need a hug or want a cuddle and you’re not there to do that for them. You only have your words and your thoughts, smileys and the occasional picture of you doing a silly face to try and make it better. It’s a relationship where you are mostly on your own, and no matter how much you try to include your boyfriend/girlfriend in the memories you are making, you are not making memories together. Not as much as a non distance relationship at least. It’s no wonder that trying to stay positive is difficult when you know the next “I’ll see you soon” is actually an “I’ll see you in five weeks”.

I miss him. I miss him all day, every day, especially when I do things that I kow he would have loved, or do things that we used to do together all the time. I feel the pain of not having him around, but it’s bittersweet because the more I miss him the more I feel just how much he matters to me. Being in an LDR teaches you a lot about your own feelings and values. It very quickly reveals the depth of your emotions, even if you haven’t been together all that long. It teaches you to communicate your feelings more openly than ever, because there is no other way to deal with things. If you don’t tell them how you feel, they won’t know. So you tell them. You communicate. You have datenights over Skype and bring each other out to cafés on Facetime. Watch movies together on Rabb.it and make a joint calendar in the “Couple” app. You play Words With Friends and Quiz Up and exchange endless “I Miss You”s and “I Love You”s while squeezing the teddy or cardigan that has their perfume/cologne on. You stay independent and do your own thing, but if you ever feel down their words or smiling face is there in front of you on the screen. They are there for you even if you can’t reach out and poke them in the cheek or ruffle their hair. Your long distance boyfriend or girlfriend is there and you prioritize each other. You stay busy, you stay focused on the end goal and you keep on growing as people, together and apart.

It turns out I can be in an LDR, however difficult it might be. I am doing it. We are doing it. I haven’t seen Kjære in a month and I won’t see him again until next Sunday, but we’re doing it. And it’s going better than expected. We’ve made a schedule for our visits and if everything goes to plan 5 weeks is the longest we’ll go without seeing each other. We’re focusing on all the memories we will be making together, trying to keep a positive mind, playing the waiting game to the best of our abilities. We Skype when we need to Skype and share little tidbits of our days as we go along, the mundane and the exciting. He’s my best friend and like any best friend I know he has my back, distance or no distance.

I’m not going to say that LDRs are grand, because they are not. They suck. There is crying, loneliness and a bunch of other sad feelings when it feels like the days are standing still and the countdown has stopped. But LDRs are also amazing. He gets to live his dream of studying abroad and becoming fluent in a new language, I get to fulfill my dream by finishing my degree in England (technically abroad for me too) and we’re still together. Living two different dreams in two different countries, all the while maintaining a relationship with our favourite person. The timing of when we met might not have been the best. The irony of him going to Scandiniavia while I’m in England isn’t lost on any of us. But we want each other to be happy and that’s the most important thing.

Giving up a few hugs here and a lazy sunday in bed there… Well, it’s not that much of a sacrifice when you’re both doing what makes you happy and you know that the person you love wants you to do it. A relationship is all about making each other happy and if a little temporary distance is needed so that you both can be the happiest you can be… then a little distance is no obstacle at all.

In which me and my flatmate Christa (links here to her blog and youtube channel) do the life tag! This blog is a travel blog first and foremost, but I will be posting some of the videos I make on here so that you can get to know me a little better.

We also did the Roommate Tag on her channel if you want to get even more up close and personal with us 😉